We eagerly started on the path down to Viridian City, Polaris walking beside me with Pooka on my shoulder and Charren in my arms. It didn't take long before Ben spotted a pidgey he wanted to catch. His squirtle was actually pretty lucky in the fight. The pidgey was tough, and didn't go down easily. Once it was captured it took a real liking to Ben, taking the chance to ride on his shoulder. We took a break at lunch by a river. It was a good thing I didn't have to feed Polaris. It would be difficult getting enough food to keep a ponyta full. Luckily she could just munch on the grass. Throwing my collapsible rod from home in the water I leaned back and relaxed. It probably wouldn't be good for catching much, but it was a good way to relax.

"So, I saw this pokemon on the way to Pallet Town," I said casually.

"Yeah?" Ben asked lazily, relaxed from lunch and content to soak in the sun with me.

"Yeah. A pink feline pokemon. Professor Oak said it sounded like Mew, but he didn't believe I'd really seen it." Ben sat up and looked at me.

"You saw Mew." I nodded. He studied me for a moment before looking back at the river.

"Okay." I blinked in disbelief.

"You believe me?" Ben rolled his eyes.

"I know you, Cara. You're pretty honest, and if you were gonna make something up it'd be something far more believable than seeing a pokemon most people don't even really believe exists." I chuckled.

"Suppose that's true," I answered. Leaning back I grinned. "Thanks."

"No problem." A tug on the rod drew my attention back to the river. Pulling it up I grinned.

"Alright, a magikarp!" I exclaimed. Ben stared at me like I was crazy.

"You're excited for a magikarp?" he asked.

"Well they do evolve into gyarados," I explained. The magikarp continued to wriggle on my line. Ben rolled his eyes.

"Then catch it already!" Laughing I threw the pokeball. It shook for a couple moments before being captured. Picking up the pokeball I grinned.

"Alright! Now I just have to name it." Thoughtfully I considered the pokeball. Releasing my new magikarp back into the water I watched it swim around as I scanned it with my pokedex. So he was a male, and as expected only knew splash. Hopefully he would take to training. I closed my eyes trying to imagine my gyarados. It was hard with his pre-evolution swimming around right in front of me, supposedly without a care in the world.

Gyaradoses were quite large. I could draw a name from that. "Leviathan," I decided. Ben snorted looking at the decidedly nonregal magikarp.

"If you say so," he said. I glared at him and returned Leviathan to his pokeball. He would become a gyarados and fit his name. I'd make sure of it. We continued on from our fishing spot then, stopping to camp and train in the evening.

The next day we reached our destination: Viridian City!

It was difficult to not stare at everything. The buildings were huge, almost blocking out the sky. It was larger than anything I'd ever seen. I couldn't stop gawking at everything I saw, Polaris shrinking into my side.

"It's...it's...so big…" I said. Ben smiled.

"Right, you've never been to a big city before. Come on, let's go to the pokemon center. We can rest up there." I nodded and trailed after him, Pooka occasionally piping up to remind me to keep moving after Ben. As soon as our pokemon were taken care of and we'd called our parents to let them know we'd arrived safely, we headed back out to explore the city. It was awesome! Polaris was a little shy, but I made sure to keep an eye on her and as long as we avoided large crowds she was just fine.

"I thought there was supposed to be a gym in this city," I commented to Ben. We'd been wandering around for some time and I hadn't seen it yet. A gym was usually the main building in a city, centered around the gym's leader and the protection they granted. I hadn't seen Viridian's yet though. A laugh caught my attention, a boy leaning against a nearby wall.

"Sorry, newbie trainers are just so cute, the way they try to find the gym." The boy chuckled again. "You won't find the gym leader here. He leaves for weeks at a time. You wouldn't be able to face him anyways. He's the toughest gym leader in the league. He'd wipe you so hard you'd have to crawl to the pokemon center." I stiffened in anger. Taking a deep breath I tried to not let him get under my skin.

"So he's not here? Well I don't want to wait weeks. Guess I'll just head on to Pewter City," I said. The boy sneered.

"You really think you can take on a gym leader and win?" Snapping I spun around.

"Yeah, I can!" The boy pulled out a pokeball.

"Prove it in a battle then."

"Fine! Polaris, go!" My ponyta looked at me and nickered encouragement before trotting out. The boy tossed his pokeball releasing an enormous fearow. The bird soared overhead watching Polaris predatorily.

"Peck!" the boy shouted. Spearow dove down sharply. Polaris shied slightly at the sight.

"Dodge Polaris, and follow up with ember!" I shouted. Polaris wheeled out of the way and spat flames right in the fearow's face. Startled it rose up again into the air crying in anger.

"Don't let it spook ya!" the boy shouted, "Use fury attack!" The fearow again dove rapidly, this time too fast to dodge. Sharp talons scraped down Polaris' back. Startled the ponyta reared striking in fear with her hooves. Caught in the wings the fearow was pulled down. Before it could fly again Polaris began to trample it down. Twisting sharply the fearow drove it's long beak into Polaris' chest forcing her to back off. The battered fearow stood up and cawed harshly. The long wings stirred up a fierce gust that buffeted Polaris. Before Polaris could recover it dove down and struck her hard, knocking her down. The boy recalled it as I rushed to Polaris' side.

"Good girl," I crooned, "it's gonna be alright.". Lovingly I took a potion and sprayed her cuts. I'd want to get her checked at the pokecenter to make sure she was alright, after all that was quite a beating she'd taken, but she'd done fantastic for my first official pokemon battle. Polaris nuzzled me happily nickering softly. The boy smirked. "Come back when you're ready." I glared at him as he marched off. Arrogant fellow.

"Guess we'll be heading to Pewter City." We returned to the pokemon center, the nurse cheerfully looking over Polaris and working on healing her. We left shortly after to Viridian forest. Sticking close to the trail we wandered through the forest doing our best to not disturb the beedrill that haunted it. Polaris and Pooka would be able to keep them at bay for some time, but being swarmed by them wasn't something I wanted to experience.

Heading down the forest, I was caught off guard when something suddenly dropped on my head. Squealing in surprise I danced around. Ben looked back at me and burst into laughter. Stopping my dancing I glared at him.

"What?" Ben pointed at my head. Glancing up, I frowned seeing part of a caterpie. All that panic over a little caterpillar? Embarrassed I picked it up into my arms.

"You scared me," I scolded the little pokemon. Not at all discouraged it snuggled into me searching for food. I was surprised the pokemon was so affectionate. Smiling I held it close. It looked like I'd caught my next pokemon-or she caught me. Naming her Karren I let her happily cuddle with me as we continued down the path. I continued to look for pokemon to catch, but it wasn't easy with the beedrill in the forest. Pooka actually got stung at one point. Thankfully Ben had an antidote to cure the poison, or we would have been forced to flee the forest before we even got halfway through it.

Pausing at a stream for a break, I brightened as I spotted a nearby poliwag clamber out of the water. It would make a great addition to my team. The poliwag spotted us, and immediately began to run. Not willing to let it escape I broke into a run of my own chasing after it. The poliwag was pretty fast. Luckily it tripped, hitting a tree. A large beedrill came out of it. Realizing the danger I immediately looked to Pooka.

"Thundershock, quick!" Pooka quickly zapped the beedrill sending it spiraling down. The poor poliwag backed away hiding under a nearby bush. Cheering I hugged Pooka. "Perfect!" Shakily the beedrill began to rise. Realizing the danger Ben rapidly released Squirtle. "Watergun the beedrill!" Ben shouted. The beedrill was hit again sending it into a tree. Ticked off the beedrill charged towards Squirtle. The young pokemon dove barely getting out of the way the beedrill scraping across his back. "Watergun again!" Squirtle blasted at it, this time knocking the beedrill unconscious. Drawing a pokeball Ben tossed it at the beedrill capturing it. Ben grinned with pleasure at his capture. Now we were safe. Sighing in relief I crouched down by the bush.

"Hey, come out little guy." Bright eyes stared out at me suspiciously. Smiling I took out a berry and offered it to him.

"I won't hurt you," I promised. Tempted by the berry the poliwag slowly came out and took the berry. Karren peered down at the pokemon tilting her head curiously. The poliwag burbled softly, retreating slightly again. I pulled out yet another berry. More bold this time he snatched it up happily enjoying how juicy it was. Karren preed softly and wriggled down my arm towards the poliwag. He looked at the caterpie suspiciously but didn't move away.

"Do you want to come with us?" I asked. The poliwag hesitated. We had scared him pretty bad with the chase, but we hadn't harmed him either. We had actually fed him. Nodding his head he let me capture him. Happily I looked to Ben.

"Looks like I caught another pokemon." Pleased with my success I turned back to the trail, and we continued on our way. Ben shrugged, happy with my success but not particularly caring. He was happy to train the pokemon he had and focus on them.